Still Here
Healing Your Inner Child
A 16-week group therapy program for adults healing from complex trauma. For the people who made it through — and are ready to find out what comes next.
For adults who survived childhood — and are ready to heal it
Still Here is a closed, 16-week group therapy program for adults living with Complex PTSD. It is designed for people who are functioning — working, parenting, maintaining relationships — while carrying wounds from childhood that have never fully been named or healed.
The program moves through three phases: building safety and language for what happened; looking directly at the wound — the shame, the core beliefs, the attachment patterns, the contempt, and the behaviors that developed to manage the pain; and finally turning toward integration — self-compassion, grief, inner child work, reparenting, and meaning-making.
This is not a support group. It is structured, clinically grounded group therapy led by trained facilitators, grounded in Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic and attachment-based approaches, and Pete Walker's Complex PTSD framework.
Who this program is for
Adults 18+ with a history of childhood emotional neglect, abuse, or abandonment
People who recognize symptoms of Complex PTSD — emotional flashbacks, toxic shame, a harsh inner critic, difficulty trusting
High-functioning adults who appear fine on the outside and are exhausted on the inside
People who have done some individual therapy and are ready for the relational container a group provides
Adults who have been managing pain through behaviors they want to understand and change — not through willpower, but through healing
Anyone who has wondered: why do I keep reacting this way — and is there another way to live?
Three phases. Sixteen weeks. One direction.
Each phase builds on the last. The program does not ask you to arrive healed — it asks you to arrive, week after week, and let the container do its work.
Foundation & Safety
Weeks 1–4
Building the container. Learning the language of Complex PTSD, the nervous system, and emotional flashbacks. Establishing the breath practice and the group agreements that hold everything else.
Deep Work
Weeks 5–10
Looking directly at the wound — without looking away. Shame, core beliefs, attachment, family systems, neglect, contempt. Understanding the behaviors that developed to manage unbearable pain.
Integration
Weeks 11–16
Turning toward the medicine. Self-compassion, grief, inner child work, reparenting, self-forgiveness, and meaning-making. The wound becoming part of your story — not the whole of it.
How each session is structured
Every session follows a consistent rhythm. The repetition is intentional — your nervous system learns to trust the container when it knows what to expect.
Breath practice & body scan
Every session opens the same way — the same breath, the same slow scan. Over 16 weeks this becomes a somatic anchor your nervous system learns to recognize as safe.
Psychoeducation
Each week introduces a specific clinical concept — shame, attachment, the inner critic, grief — in accessible, non-pathologizing language. You will finally have words for things you have felt your entire life.
Experiential activity
The heart of each session — somatic work, guided meditation, creative exercises, writing, and group process. This is where insight becomes experience, and experience becomes healing.
Group processing
Space to be witnessed and to witness others. The group itself is a corrective attachment experience — a place where vulnerability is met with presence rather than contempt.
Closing & between-session practice
Each session closes with a brief grounding practice and a gentle between-session invitation — never mandatory homework, always an optional companion for the week.
After everything — the wound, the shame, the years of surviving — you are still here.
Still Here · Gulf Grove Therapy
What you need to know before you apply
We want there to be no surprises. Everything you need to make an informed decision is below.
Schedule & format
Fees & insurance
Clinical requirements
Theoretical approach
Questions we hear most often
If your question isn't answered here, email us at [email protected] — we're happy to talk through whether this program is the right fit for you.
PTSD typically develops in response to a single traumatic event. Complex PTSD (CPTSD) develops from repeated, prolonged trauma — most often in childhood, within caregiving relationships. It often presents as chronic shame, a harsh inner critic, difficulty regulating emotions, emotional flashbacks, troubled relationships, and behaviors developed to manage unbearable pain. Many people with CPTSD have spent years in therapy addressing symptoms without understanding the root.
No. A formal diagnosis is not required. What matters is whether the experiences and patterns described resonate with your life. The pre-group consultation call is where we explore fit together — not to screen you out, but to make sure this is the right container for where you are right now.
Yes — many participants come to Still Here with no prior group therapy experience. The program is designed to build the group container carefully in Phase 1, so that by the time the deeper work begins, participants feel safe enough to engage fully. You will never be required to share more than you are ready to share. You can always pass.
Individual therapy alongside this program is strongly encouraged — the group does deep work that benefits from individual space to process what surfaces. That said, it is not an automatic requirement. We discuss your individual therapy situation during the pre-group consultation call and can help connect you with a therapist before the group begins if needed.
A closed group means the same participants start and finish the program together. No one joins after Week 1. This is clinically important — the trust and relational safety that make deep trauma work possible take time to build, and they depend on a consistent group. The group you begin with is the group you complete with.
Life happens, and we understand that. However, consistent attendance is important — both for your own healing and for the group's relational container. Aetna does not reimburse for sessions not attended, so missed sessions are charged directly at $75. If you need to miss a session, please let your facilitator know in advance. Missing more than three sessions may affect your ability to continue.
Confidentiality is a core group agreement — what is shared in the group stays in the group. Facilitators are also bound by professional confidentiality. The standard legal exceptions apply (mandatory reporting requirements and imminent safety concerns). Confidentiality is co-created with the group in the first session and held as a shared responsibility.
Gulf Grove Therapy accepts Aetna insurance. Sessions are billed to Aetna for each session you attend, and your out-of-pocket cost depends on your specific plan's group therapy coverage. Please verify your group therapy benefits with Aetna before the program begins. Self-pay is available at $75 per session ($1,200 total) for those without Aetna coverage.
That uncertainty is one of the most honest things you can arrive with. The pre-group consultation call is designed for exactly this question — it's a conversation, not an evaluation. We'll talk about where you are, what has brought you here, and whether this program feels like the right fit right now. Expressing interest doesn't commit you to anything. It just starts the conversation.
Yes. Still Here is designed to be welcoming of all gender identities, sexual orientations, cultural backgrounds, and lived experiences. The interest form asks for your pronouns and invites you to share anything about your identity or background that you'd like us to know as we think about group fit. We are committed to building groups where every participant feels seen and safe.
Submit your interest form
The form takes about five minutes. It doesn't commit you to anything. We are currently collecting interest for our January 2027 cohort and will be in touch to schedule a brief consultation call when we begin forming the group.
